HKAITRI Industrial Laboratory has landed in Merrind, jointly building a robot lubrication intelligent innovation platform.
A seed breaking through the soil is not just a momentary breakthrough in germination, but also requires endogenous strength to break through the soil layer, withstand external environmental pressure, deeply root down, and continue to grow. Merrind's layout to replace high-end lubricating oil for industrial robots with domestic production is a vivid epitome of hard technology's "seed breaking", and also highly compatible with HKAITRI's direction of promoting "AI+manufacturing" and connecting industry, academia, research and application.
For a long time, the high-end lubrication market for industrial robot reducers has been monopolized by overseas brands. Although lubricating grease only accounts for a small proportion of the overall cost, it directly determines the precision of robot joints and the lifespan of reducers, and is a key "small material" in the intelligent manufacturing industry chain. Meruida, as a seed of the industry, has already possessed the basic ability to break through the soil: deeply cultivating formula research and development, developing fully synthetic lubrication products for harsh working conditions such as RV, harmonic reducer overload, and anti micro motion wear, completing a large number of on-site production line verifications, benchmarking the performance of imported products, and ushering in the era of domestic substitution.
But breaking through the soil does not mean growing into a big tree, there are still three practical tests on the road to growth. One is the technical layer: high-end lubrication relies on additive systems and massive long-term operating data, and cannot rely solely on laboratory indicators. Continuous durability pilot testing and on-site verification are needed; The second is the market layer: complete machine factories and manufacturing enterprises have long formed import path dependence, and domestic materials entering the supply chain have to go through a long trial and assessment period; The third is the rooting of the industrial chain: it cannot simply sell oil products, but must extend to oil monitoring and equipment predictive maintenance, integrating materials, operating condition data, and intelligent operation and maintenance services.
This is exactly where HKAITRI can work together. The country has clearly promoted the integration of artificial intelligence and manufacturing, encouraged the establishment of public technology platforms, and assisted small and medium-sized enterprises in their low-cost intelligent transformation. HKAITRI is based in Hong Kong and links with the Greater Bay Area to build a collaborative platform for industry academia research in the physical manufacturing industry. On the one hand, it conducts research on industrial intelligence, oil big data, and predictive maintenance, combining AI technology with physical scenarios of friction lubrication to help Merrind convert on-site working condition data into reusable models and judgment systems, filling the data gap of domestic materials; On the other hand, it links academic, industrial, and consulting resources to provide trend analysis, technology integration, and scenario implementation support for hard technology enterprises, helping domestic key supporting materials bridge the gap from samples to industrialization.
AI, as a new type of production factor empowering the real economy, is not only reflected in the large models themselves, but also permeates in segmented industrial chain links such as robot lubrication and equipment operation and maintenance. HKAITRI focuses on the industrial reality behind technological changes, researching cutting-edge theories and rooted in the real pain points of the manufacturing industry. It accompanies hard tech seed companies like Merrind to complete the entire process from breaking ground, rooting to growth, and helps the industry chain and supply chain to become independent and self reliant.
Further Reading
Merrind was founded in 2008 and is a chemical industry enterprise specializing in the research and development, storage, manufacturing, and marketing of lubricants and specialty chemicals. At the beginning of its entrepreneurship, the company focused on serving the domestic high-end lubricant industry with "professionalism, challenge, and innovation". Over the past 18 years, through unremitting efforts and persistence, it has become an important lubricant and chemical supporting service provider (OEM) for domestic industries such as automotive engines and components, general aviation engines, yacht manufacturing, industrial robots and automation. The Merrind industrial robot grease pack series products have been selected and recognized by many leading companies in the industry, including Nongfu Spring, Oak Chemical, Great Wall Motors, Huayu Body, AVIC, Ordnance Group, AVIC, AVIC, AVIC, JAC, and Continental Automotive Electronics. They are widely used in multiple intelligent manufacturing fields such as manufacturing, automotive, aviation, electronics, and food.
HONG KONG ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE (HK-AITRI) is affiliated with Hong Kong AI Technology Development Limited and was established by a group of scholars and industry practitioners dedicated to transforming industries with AI technology. The research institute is rooted in Hong Kong, building an AI industry laboratory and a collaborative platform between the institute and enterprises, aiming to fill the gaps in the manufacturing innovation system, create a multi-party collaborative innovation carrier, link various enterprises, universities, and government agencies, and jointly promote the high-quality development of advanced manufacturing industries. The research institute focuses on the practical application of physical AI and intelligent agents, and adopts a project-based approach to output research teams and cutting-edge AI technology capabilities, breaking down barriers between technology research and development and industry demand, helping physical enterprises achieve low-cost intelligent upgrades, and creating an industrial AI industry university research collaborative innovation platform for the Greater Bay Area.
